Cannes Content Market Mipcom Sets Spain as Its 2024 Country of Honor
Spain will be the Country of Honor at 2024’s Mipcom, the biggest TV content market in the world.
Celebrating Spanish creativity, the Country of Honor program will mix events will feature panels and screenings of first-look new content, focusing on opportunities for co-production and relocation to Spain, Lucy Smith, director of Mipcom, announced Thursday at a press conference in Madrid.
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The honor recognises “the country’s increased prominence in recent years on the global stage” which is “inescapable and is incredibly impressive,” Smith added. “It really could not be more timely for Spain to take center stage this year at the mother of all entertainment content markets,” she said.
Mipcom will open with a Spanish-themed party, Smith added. The co-production and entertainment content event unspools in Cannes over Oct. 21-24.
News of Spain’s honor came as María González Vera, Spain’s secretary of state for Telecommunications and Digital Structures told the press conference that the Spanish government is preparing a preferential interest credit facility of €1.7 billion ($1.85 billion) targeting companies and innovation.
Spain’s increased prominence was placed in a larger context by Pablo Conde, director of internationalisation at ICEX, the Spanish government’s export and inward investment agency.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced a Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe plan in 2021 aiming to plow €1.6 million into Spain’s industries, mostly by interest credit facilities and tax breaks.
At the same time, after “Money Heist” exploded on Netflix, becoming the U.S. streaming giant’s first ever non-English global blockbuster, big OTT players have targeted Spain, along with the U.K., as one of Europe’s principal countries for investment. In 2022, Spain produced 34 scripted series for global platforms, compared to the U.K.’s 32, Conde noted.
The selection of Spain as Country of Honor at the next edition of Mipcom recognises the talent and strength of the Spanish audiovisual industry and at the same time affords the perfect opportunity to celebrate the excellence, creativity and professionally of our companies in an incomparable context,” Conde said.
More to come.
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